1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to informational demonstrations, and more specifically to methods and kits used as an educational and promotional tool for demonstrating the efficacy of a consumer product to produce a consumer-desired effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
Demonstration of products is well known. Many types of products have been demonstrated by a product salesperson or vendor to educate and inform consumers about the characteristics and benefits of the product. Often times a live demonstration is the best way inform and educate. Written materials, video or spoken presentations about the benefits of a product often fail to capture and focus attention on the product's ability to perform a desired function or achieve a desired result.
Consumers have recently become more concerned with the efficacy of their consumer products since these products often provide health, safety, or wellness benefits of interest to consumers. Consumer products particularly lend themselves to live demonstrations of their capacity to produce a consumer-desired effect on a contaminant. Often the consumer-desired effect produced by the consumer product is directly observable by the consumer. Thus, live demonstrations can directly show a consumer the benefits of the consumer product.
In the prior art, a consumer product demonstration involved setting up the demonstration before it was performed by the product salesperson or vendor. The consumer product was often, supplied from its standard packaging container. Workpieces, on which the consumer product acted, also needed to be supplied for the demonstrations. Finally, containers, platforms, and tools necessary for an effective demonstration had to be supplied.
During the demonstration, care was needed to avoid unintended contact with the consumer product or with the contaminant. Cleanup materials often were procured to address potential material spills of the consumer product or the contaminant.
After the demonstration was performed, the consumer product demonstrator needed to break-down the demonstration setup. Unused consumer product remaining in the original packaging and spent workpieces needed to be disposed. Work areas for the demonstration needed to be cleaned or re-ordered, and tools and working containers used in the demonstration needed to be cleaned.
With consumer products, especially those involving cleaning products that produced a consumer-desired effect on a contaminant, these prior art demonstration activities often involved some danger or health risk to both the demonstrator and the consumer observer. These types of consumer products often posses dangerous or unhealthful properties themselves. In a demonstration, use of, or even simple exposure to, these products without proper personal protective equipment, could present danger or health risks to the demonstrator or observers. Further, exposure to the contaminants on which these consumer products act, likewise often posed danger or health risks.
A demonstration apparatus and method to perform demonstrations of consumer products that avoids the disadvantages of the prior art is needed. In accordance with this objective and those that are mentioned and will become apparent below, in one aspect of the present invention a demonstration apparatus is provided.